A Different View
by Crystal Silo-Milano
Summary: Draco Malfoy is always thought of as "that evil boy/Death Eater,". But no one knows his backstory. This is his and her story, told through Lily Grant's eyes.
1. Childhood

_A/N: I don't own Harry Potter, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, the Plot Bunny bit me about three hours ago, and I stayed up half the night to write this, so you better enjoy!_

_Leave reviews with what you like, don't like, wish would happen, etc. And if Draco is OOC...well, that will be explained later._

My name is Lily Andrea Grant. I was born on May 15, 1980. I am currently eleven years old. I was born to Andrea Grant and Marcus Grant. I was the first of three. My two other siblings- Brian and Chelsea- will be mentioned later. This date is very important. Not only did it give birth to a very talented and beautiful witch, but it was three weeks before Draco Malfoy's birthday.

My parents were always close to the Malfoy family. My father and mother had both been sorted into Slytherin in the year of 1966, along with Lucius Malfoy, so they had been friends ever since. They continued their friendship into their adulthood, and somehow having children at the same time. Or around. Whatever.

When I was born, Lucius and Narcissa were there to see me. Looking back, I now realize that it's totally weird that one of my best friend's parents had changed my diaper.

Yep, you heard me right. Draco was one of my best friends. But more of that later.

Three weeks after I was born, Narcissa went into labor and gave birth to Draco. Right from the start, both of our parents wanted us to be best friends. Countless times, I went over to Draco's or he would come over to my house. It was hard to not be friends. He was like a brother to me. Then…it happened.

October 31, 1981. You probably know what happened, but I'll tell you anyway. Voldemort travelled to Godric's Hollow, the home of Harry Potter. He burst his way into the house, meeting James Potter. James gave up a fight, but Voldemort killed him. Stepping over his dead body, Voldemort went upstairs to where Lily and Harry Potter were.

Lily held her son close to her. When the door burst open, she knelt down, protecting him. She pleaded with Voldemort, begging him to take her instead of Harry. She was a brave woman. But Voldemort didn't care about bravery. He was a vile, evil person that wanted eternal life, and would stop at nothing to achieve it. He killed her without any remorse. Finally, he stepped over to Harry. He tried to curse him, but it rebounded. Harry was given one lightning scar, while Voldemort was destroyed.

This is common knowledge. Everything, except how he survived. Then, the known Death Eaters were taken in for trial. Also, common knowledge. Something that isn't common knowledge- Lucius Malfoy was not a Death Eater by choice. He was under the Imperius Curse. Not a lie. I know it for a fact. He rebelled against it for about a minute, told me that he was innocent, and then went back under to it. You just can't fake that kind of stuff.

Throughout my childhood, I was taught that Pureblood was the best, Half-blood was okay, but that Muggle Borns were to never be socialized with. (I will never use that offensive name. Ever.) For a while, I believed that, and I was very proud to be part of the Black family. When I was nine, however, my views changed.

I went outside for a few hours, playing with Draco, like most nine years olds do, when we saw a half-blood family across the street from my house. Being curious, I wandered over to the house, Draco following me. We introduced ourselves to the very cheerful Half-blood family.

When it became time for Draco to be picked up from my house, after dinner, he told his parents of the encounter with the children and the family. As I waved to him, going onto his broomstick, I saw his father yelling at him. Something about "purity" and "do that again, I will disown you". I was shocked that Lucius Malfoy, the one who had been a second father to me, could threaten that high. He had sometimes yelled at Draco and me about cleaning up what we started, but that was only when we were making a giant mess and left it alone. I was shocked that he would be punished that severely for something that wasn't even a crime.

The next time he came over, I asked him whether he wanted to go to the Half-blood's home again or not. He said,

"My father wouldn't be too happy if we did that. He just thinks that we should do things that Purebloods do, you know?"

"Is that your opinion or his?" I asked

"Kind of both. To tell you the truth, I'm really scared of him. He tried to hit me the last time we did that." He replied.

I stared at him, open mouthed.

"Let's just not, okay?" He asked, his eyes telling me that going to that family was a big mistake.

"Okay," I answered.

Since then, I still had my respects for Lucius, but I would never forget what Draco said.

Two more uneventful years passed. Draco and I were as close as ever. It seemed nothing would change. We weren't boyfriend and girlfriend, we were friends. Draco and Lily, Lily and Draco. Nothing could break the bond that we had.

Finally, on my eleventh birthday, I got an expected present- an owl, with an acceptance letter to Hogwarts. Although I knew that it would happen, I was paranoid that something would happen- They would forget to sign me up, the owl would get lost, they would run out of ink, something would happen that would make me not get my letter.

After screaming around like all girls did, I quickly gathered some parchment and ink, and hastily wrote a letter to Draco.

_Draco,_

_Hey, it's Lily. You already knew it was my birthday (I can see by this giant package that says "To Lily, from Draco"), but I just got my letter! I can't wait to go to Hogwarts- how about we buy our stuff together? I mean, we have to, we've been looking forward to Hogwarts ever since we were four and trying to read _The Tales of Beedle the Bard_. How about a week after your birthday? Send Angle back with your response and dates that you can come!_

_Love Always,_

_Lily_

I folded the letter up and tied it to Angle's leg.

"To Draco," I said. I gave her a sip of water and some food, then sent her off.

I opened the presents from all of my family. My mom and dad had gotten me a set of brand new, state-of-the-art quills and ink (That was how Draco and I talked to each other when he wasn't over), some great new books, and a _broomstick!_ I loved Quidditch- I always had, since Draco has gotten me into it. We used to fly around each others yards, pelting each other with pinecones.

I then opened the present from Draco. It was amazing- it was a GIANT book on "How to Write a New Wizard Sensation Novel". I loved it! There was a note attached to it-

_Lily,_

_I know that you love to read and write, especially the supernatural fiction. So, I saw this shopping with Mum and Dad in Diagon Alley and thought of you. Write something and send it my way!_

_Love Always,_

_Draco_

It was amazing! It had everything from realistic fiction to fantasy to mystery to even a simple essay! Draco always knew what was perfect for me- it was just so…_him._ He had the gift to know what everyone would love and hate. Good and bad in both ways.

Three weeks later, I got a note of his letter. I hopped on my broomstick and went over to his house. I knocked on the door of the Manor.

"Lily! Come in, please," Narcissa answered, and opened the door.

I ran and hugged Draco. "Happy Birthday, Mister Malfoy," I said formally, then burst out laughing. "Like my present?" I asked.

He held up the enormous set of Wizarding books, Slytherin pins and scarves, ink, quills, and stress balls that told you how stressed you were based on how hard you squeezed. I gave him a lot because, well, we had gotten his Hogwarts letter, and the fact that the writing set had to cost a fortune.

"It's amazing." He hugged me "Thanks so much."

"So, you ready for shopping in Diagon Alley?" I pulled out my Gringotts key. My parents had let me borrow it for the shopping.

"Yep. Mum and Dad are getting the Portkey ready. There are too many Muggles around to fly." He replied.

Lucius came into the room. "Lily! Great to see you. Happy late Birthday, and thanks for sending everything to Draco. He really enjoyed it."

"You're welcome, sir, and thank you."

"Well, the Portkey's ready, so let's go." Lucius said.

We all gathered around an old tin can. We put our fingers on, and we traveled into the Wizarding World.


	2. Diagon Alley

_A/N: blah blah blah, I'm not JKR, and you better enjoy this chapter, because I stayed up till 1AM to write it! Then again, I usually stay up until three, so... never mind!_

_Remember- Rate & Review!_

The Malfoy family and I arrived just outside of the Leaky Cauldron pub. We casually walked inside. Tom, the bartender, asked if Lucius wanted a drink. He stopped, looked and Draco and me for a split second, then casually said "No."

After passing through the bar, Narcissa withdrew her wand and tapped the bricks on the wall. The bricks then started to move out of the way, revealing Diagon Alley.

"It says here," I pointed to my list. "That we need some robes, but we first need to stop by Gringotts."

Draco pointed ahead to the giant building. "There it is!" He exclaimed.

We began to walk towards the building. I felt in pocket and- Yep – I had my key.

Entering the building, Draco's family and I saw the many goblins perched upon the countertops. Coming up to the front desk, I presented my key.

"Lily Andrea Grant would like to make a withdrawal from the Grant family vault." I stated formally.

The goblin took my key. "Very well then." He replied.

Draco then came up to the desk. "Draco Lucius Malfoy would like to make a withdrawal from the Malfoy vault." He passed his key up to the desk. "And a slower cart, please." He murmured.

The goblin took the key and studied it. "Very well." He said.

Draco's family and I gathered into the cart, starting at my vault first.

"Vault Nine Hundred and Seven." The goblin said as the cart stopped. The goblin and I stepped out of the cart, and he put the key into the keyhole and opened my vault.

Even though I had seen the vault quite a few other times, I was always struck by how rich my family was. We had many piles of golden Galleons, tons of silver Sickles, heaps of bronze Knuts. I quickly pulled out a light blue purse that the Malfoy family had gotten for me for my tenth birthday and shoved about 75 Galleons into it. I then gathered some Sickles and Knuts and put them in, too.

At Draco's vault, he had one giant pile of Galleons, with smaller piles of Knuts and Sickles around it. He shoved many of them into a small wallet and quickly closed the vault door.

After receiving our money, we went to Madam Malkins to buy our robes. Lucius went to buy our books and save time, while Narcissa went to look at some wands. She was very interested in wandlore, and was going to talk to Mr. Ollivander. We entered the shop and were greeted by Madam Malkin herself.

"Hello, dearie. Hogwarts, both of you?" She asked, dressed in purple.

"Yes, ma'am." I replied.

"Okay, I'll have someone fit you too up. Jenna!"

Jenna, a short little witch, led us to the back, put us on top of some stools, put long, black robes on us, and began to pin them to the right length. Pretty soon, though, the jingle of bells told us that we weren't the only ones getting robes.

"Hogwarts, dear?" Madam Malkin asked. "Got the lot here- a young man and a girl being fitted up right now, in fact." She brought the eleven year old, dark haired and skinny, onto a stool. The three of us were matching, each with extremely long black robes on.

"Hello," Draco said. "Hogwarts, too?" He asked

"Yes," He said.

"My father's next door buying our books, and Mother's up the street, looking at wands." He said.

"She's very interested in wandlore, but never was able to pursue a career in it," I said, knowingly.

"Yes, she is. After they finish, I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms." I could see the gleam in his eyes that he really wanted this. "I can't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into buying me one, and I'll smuggle it in somehow." He said, with that same familiar gleam in his eyes.

"Have you got your own broom?" Draco continued.

"No," He replied.

"Do you play Quidditch at all?" I asked.

"No," He said.

"We both do." I pointed to Draco.

"Father says that it's a crime if I don't get picked to play for the House team, and I must say, I agree. Know what House you'll be in yet?"

"No," he said again.

"Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they?" I said.

"I think I'm going to be in Slytherin, all my family has been there. But imagine being in Hufflepuff…" He smirked. "I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?"

"Mmm." He said.

"Who is that?" I asked, pointing out the window.

"That's Hagrid. He works at Hogwarts." The boy replied.

"Oh, I've heard of him. He's a kind of ser…" Draco was cut off.

"Helper, right?" I interrupted.

"He's the gamekeeper." Harry said.

"So like a servant," Draco said. "I heard that every once in a while, he gets drunk, tries to do magic, and ends up setting fire to his bed."

I looked away, embarrassed. I knew this wasn't the real Draco Malfoy I knew- this was Draco Malfoy trying to live up to his father's name. He always tried to do that, to make sure that his father didn't beat him again.

"I think he's brilliant." The black-haired boy said.

"Do you? Why is he with you? Where are your parents?" Draco asked.

"They're…dead." He replied.

"Oh. I'm sorry." I said, truly sorry.

"But they were _our_ kind, right?" Draco asked.

"They were a witch and wizard, if that's what you mean." He replied.

"I just don't think they should let the other kind in, don't you? They just don't know our traditions, they're always behind in classes. Some of them haven't even heard of Hogwarts until they got the letter, can you imagine that? What's your surname, anyway?" Draco rudely asked, but before he could answer, he was done.

Soon, my robes were finished too, and I ran after the boy.

"Wait…wait!" I chased after him. He turned around.

"What?" He yelled.

"I just wanted to tell you that…um… I'm not sure how to say this." I stuttered.

"Just say it." He told me.

"That, the person you were talking to…that's not really Draco Malfoy. He's a lot kinder, and sweeter, and more considerate than that. Just…something to think about." I said.

"Um…okay then." He said.

"By the way, my name is Lily. Lily Andrea Grant." I held my hand out for him to shake it. He did.

"I'm Harry. Harry Potter." Harry said.

"Um…wow. You're like…a legend." My eyes couldn't help but glance up to his scar. He pretended not to notice.

"Um…thank you, I guess." He replied.

"Well, you better get back to Hagrid. I'll…" I cleared my throat. "I'll see you at Hogwarts."

I went back inside to meet Draco.

"What was that all about, Draco? One minute we're having a normal conversation, and the next you're being all rude to Ha…that boy!" I screamed at him.

"I don't know. I'm just trying to make sure my father doesn't beat me again. If he found out I was being polite to Harry Potter, he'd kill me! He told me himself! And besides, he _is_ full of himself."

"I want you to at least try to be friends with him. Okay?" I asked him.

"I'll see, whenever someone isn't around that will tell my father." He replied.

Lucius appeared at the door of the robe shop. "Speak of the Devil…" I joked.

"Have you two gotten your robes?" Lucius asked.

"Yes, sir," I replied.

"Then let's go meet Narcissa at the wand shop." Draco and I followed his father down the street to Olivanders.

We met Narcissa just coming out of the wand shop as we entered. We stepped inside, and the wandmaker and seller startled me by jumping out of what seemed like nowhere.

"Hello. Malfoy and…Grant?" I nodded to answer his question.

"Well, of course I remember your parent's wands. Your mother," He pointed to Draco. "Had a hawthorn, ten inches, and unicorn hair. Your father, he had a wand that was passed through the family. I guess he's still using that one, so you can get a new one. Your mother," He pointed to me "Had quite a different wand. Oak, dragon heartstring, and it was eleven inches. Your father had the elm, with a phoenix feather, and it was eleven and one quarter inches."

"So, let's see what we can get you today. Are both of you right handed?" He asked.

"Yes." I replied, along with Draco.

"Okay, if you could hold your wand arm out for me…" Mr. Ollivander grabbed two measurements tapes, and began to measure many different thing- knee to armpit, arm length, nostril distance, a lot of strange places. Eventually, they stopped and flew back to Mr. Ollivander.

"Hmm…Mrs. Grant, if you could step forward…?"

I stepped forward. I couldn't wait to get my very first wand. Would it be dragon heartstring or unicorn hair? Elm or willow?

"Try…this. Ten and three quarter inches, spruce wood, phoenix feather, surprisingly swishy."

I waved it, and a few of the pushpins on the bulletin board he had may have…kinda…exploded.

"Obviously not. Try…" He pulled another wand off the shelf. "This. Ten inches, ash, phoenix, and unyielding."

The rest of those pushpins might have blown up…maybe…

"Eleven and three quarters, cypress, unicorn, swishy."

Nope. Wand after wand was taken down. There was soon a pile of ten wands that hated me.

"Twelve and one quarter, ash, unicorn hair, and its flexibility is hard."

I gave it a wave, and instantly, the pushpins mended themselves. It was amazing. I felt like this, this was it.

"This seems like this is the one, doesn't it?" He asked.

"Yes sir." I replied.

"Very well. That will be seven galleons, please."

I counted out seven of the golden coins and placed them in the palm of his hand.

"Now…Mr. Malfoy."

Draco, like me, tried a bunch of different wands, but in the end, he paid seven galleons for a ten inch, hawthorn and unicorn hair wand. It looked great.

While Draco and I got our wands, Narcissa bought us our cauldrons, telescopes, phials, and our scales. Draco decided that it would be too much work to look after a pet while at Hogwarts, but I disagreed. I loved doing homework with a cat in my lap. Or reading. Or writing. Or anything, really. It couldn't go to Quidditch practice with me, though. Either way, we stopped by a pet store to buy one.

I looked around. Magic. Magic animals. Everywhere. Dancing mice, disappearing snakes, little black rats that whistled. It was amazing.

Soon, I saw a small black kitten purring in a cage. I knew that was the one. It was just so adorable and…adorable! I went up to the counter.

"How much for the black kitten in the corner?" I asked her.

"Eight Galleons, and the refilling cat bowl is five." She answered.

I gave her the thirteen golden coins, and I received a bowl that refilled its cat food and a cage with the kitten in it.

After leaving the pet shop, I saw my own mum and dad, picking me up.

"Thank you for everything, Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy. Bye, Draco!" I told them, and I skipped over to my parents, with my school supplies, cauldron, books, robes, cat, and wand. Mostly everything was in the cauldron. Thank God.

The next month of waiting for Hogwarts was boring, same old, same old. Although, one conversation with Draco stood out quite a bit.

We were at my house, on broomsticks, when my mom called us down to try some cookies. We both loved my mom's cookies, so we landed and dismounted.

"Race you there!" I called to him. I always tried to race him, even though I always lost unless it was on a broomstick. He beat me- again.

"Ha ha," he said, sinking his teeth into a warm cookie. "No cookie for you."

I stuck my tongue out at him. Then, I grabbed a cookie and threw it at him.

"OW! Hot! Very hot!" He screamed.

"Ha ha, to you too." I wet a paper towel and threw it to him to put on his burn, then grabbed a cookie.

"You know, everyone at Hogwarts will think we're going out." He said, biting into another cookie.

"Yeah, probably. But it doesn't matter. We're best friends." I replied.

"Do you wanna play the roles for them?" He asked.

"Oh yeah." I put my arms around him. "It would be like this."

He put his head on my shoulder. "Like this?" He asked.

"Perfect. We can hold hands like this…" I grabbed his hand and intertwined out fingers.

"And then," he dipped me, like he would if we were dancing. "The final detail." He leaned down, and right before his lips touched mine, he said,

"And…scene." He then quickly picked me up, and said, "I don't think we can act like that all year at Hogwarts. That one scene was way too awkward. Because you're my best friend. And like, I love you like a sister, but…no relationship." He explained.

"I feel exactly the same way. It would be like dating my brother!" I added.

"True dat. Still," He grabbed my hands. "Maybe we can tone it down." He started to move my hands to a slow tune. "Like dancing, if there's a dance."

I cuddled up against him. I felt the warmth of his body and the beating of his heart. His hands went onto my back.

"Like this?" I asked.

"Perfect."

"This is both so comfortable and awkward, because, you know, we hug every day, but this is 'supposed' to be romantic."

"We're dancing as friends. To music in our heads. That is nonexistent." At his remark, I burst out laughing.

"Then maybe I should cheat on you with my nonexistent partner." I then began to pantomime dancing.

"How dare you!? And I got you flowers, too!" He said, dripping sarcasm. To add to the act, he threw the imaginary flowers down and stomped down on them, and we both burst out laughing.

I grabbed another cookie. "Still, how are we going to shake the rumor that we're dating? You know it's going to be going around."

"Let's just cross that road when we come to it." He grabbed two more cookies and shoved them in his mouth. "Come on, we need to get back to pelting each other with pinecones! It's great practice, for aim and dodging."

We then continued to practice. Draco lost, but only by a few pinecones. By that time, it was nine, we had missed dinner and Draco's parents had been waiting for fifteen minutes. They allowed us the extra time, because that was the last time we would see each other for a week, until Hogwarts.

"Bye, Draco." I hugged him. "See you at Hogwarts." I said.

"See you." He replied.

The next week was more boring than usual. I had already read my schoolbooks, and memorized quite a bit of them in panic mode. I was so bored without Draco around. There was just nothing to do. Like I said, it was always us. Draco and Lily, Lily and Draco.

After one week, on September first, I woke up at 4:00 AM, longing to go to Hogwarts. Deciding the Muggles would look at me strangely if I arrived in Hogwarts robes, I got dressed in some of my Muggle clothing- a simple T-Shirt and shorts. I began to pack my trunk with everything I would need for the first half of the year. Sweaters, scarves, gloves, along with some autumn-like clothing. I then packed all of my books into my trunk, my cauldron, phials, telescope, and scales into a special bag, and then into the trunk, as well. I grabbed the small purse Draco gave me, and saw that it still had a fair amount of money in it. I emptied out half of the money, and kept the other half in, because, well, it's never bad to have some spare change. I could keep my schedule, quills, parchment, and other miscellaneous junk in it.

By the time this process was done and my trunk completely packed, it was 4:45 and I was getting hungry. I went downstairs and began looked in the refrigerator for some leftovers I could have for breakfast. I found some, and I feasted myself on them.

The next five hours were completely boring. I began to write using the gigantic book Draco got me. I used the same parchment and quills that my parents gave to me. Pretty soon, I had five chapters of "What it Means" done, which was pretty amazing.

After the five hours and five chapters passed by, my mother and father came into the room.

"Gather your things, sweetie, we're going to leave for King's Cross in a few minutes." My mom said. I quickly ran upstairs and grabbed it, yanking the heavy trunk down the staircase. I put the trunk in the kitchen, and grabbed my kitten from the laundry room, where her food and water were.

"Ssh, Midnight. Shh…" I whispered to her while I put her in her cage. I began to write some more, but before I could get much more than one page done, my father grabbed my trunk.

"Time to go, Lily." I looked at the clock. 10:30? When did that happen?

I went upstairs to find my twin siblings, Brain and Chelsea, finally waking up.

"Morning, sleepy-heads." I told them. "I'm leaving for King's Cross right about now."

The two nine-year-olds gathered around me.

"Bye, Sissy!" Chelsea said.

"I'll miss you!" Brian said.

"Bye guys. I love you, and I promise that I'll send you a lot of letters." I replied to them.

"Can we come to Hogwarts with you?" Brian asked.

"Sorry, bud, you have to wait until you're eleven. You have only two more years. Until then, I'll write, okay?" I told them.

"Okay. Bye!" Chelsea said.

"I was going to say that!" Brian yelled at her.

"Well, I did first!" Chelsea replied.

"Well, I thought it!" Brian retorted.

"Well, I was born first!"

"By two minutes!"

"Still counts!"

"Does not!"

"Does too!"

"Guys! Guys! Break it up, okay?" I knew they loved each other, but they fought like this all the time.

"Keep the fighting to a minimum while I'm away, okay?" I asked them.

"Okay…" They replied.

"I'm going to miss you two." I hugged the two of them.

"You're going to miss me more, though?" Chelsea said.

Seeing a fight in process, I said, "I'm going to miss you two the exact same. Bye!" I left the room, and left my two little siblings to their argument.

I went to the fireplace and grabbed a load of Floo Powder. Carrying my kitten, double checking that her food and water were fine, and I said,

"King's Cross Station."

_A/N: So, we meet Harry in this chapter. Quotes from the book, I DON'T OWN THEM. Long chapter because, well, there was a lot to do. Was Draco too OOC for your liking? Was it foreshadowing or just pretending? Leave a review that says what you like and don't like, so that you get more of what you like and less of what you don't!_


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